Well, you alternative options now that this con is dead is K-CON, which is a K-Pop Convention in Anahiem happening the same weekend or Japan Expo USA - which is also on the same weekend.

I wasn't planning on going to AMē this year because lol work - but I'm not surprised this con is gone.

TBH - there are already way too many SoCal cons as it is with ALA, WonderCon, Conji, AX, SDCC, JX USA, Comikaze, and PMX. That is not even including cons like BlizzCon, K-CON, E3, etc.

EDIT - Oh, and can someone notify the Cosplay.com Staff about this? Most likely they should be coming around soon to lock & archive this forum. Or remove/delete it. Whatever they do for cons that don't exist anymore.

Agreed, ouch now that sucks, well I guess all have to see if I can make it to PMX or comic on, hopefully ALA too. D:

Thanks so much for the info!

If you want to attempt to attend SDCC, you need to get your member ID (this is the only way you'll be able to buy passes) PRONTO because they have one final round of refund passes they intend to sell before the con, as SDCC no longer does on-site reg. Once the member ID button at the top right goes away, the badge sale will occur shortly afterwards and then member ID will open up again at a later date...

This was an email from the former artist alley manager I found on the convention forum.

"Hello Artists,

It's your former Artist Alley Manager for 2012, as I have left staffing AM2 last January due to schooling reasons, so I'm emailing you from one of my personal accounts. I found a replacement and assumed all was well. However it has been brought to my attention that there is a rumor that AM2 has been cancelled. Attendees have mentioned calling the convention center to ask about it and have been told that it has been cancelled, and recently removed from the ACC site as well. I have also just confirmed with a staffer friend that it has been canceled as well, as they are surprised it has yet to be mentioned anywhere by the CEO. While I am no longer obligated to be involved, I felt this is the best method to reach all the current artists, hoping the former artists can pass this news around ASAP as I don't have access to the current artist alley list. I've also posted this in the AA Network International on FB as well, trying to broaden the net. I apologize to those who had to find out this way. I believe Japan Expo USA has an AA the same day so perhaps your plans can be adjusted. Again, I sincerely apologize to what has happened, I never thought it would turn out this way. I recommend doing a paypal dispute as soon as you can."

People are STILL having trouble with refunds, and as far as I can tell, Chase has been silent on the matter.

Watching this unfold has really REALLY made me give the con Chair the sideeye. He is like hoping everyone is gonna forget this and pretend AM2 is on still? The fact someone who QUIT staff had to come in and seal the nail on the coffin really cheeses me off.

Glad I never supported this con... hope this dude never weasels his way into cons or con staffing again.

Side note: I checked out AA Network International, Roxie's called the company who handles the badge purchasing for AM2, they had no idea this was the case and they're on it to get to the bottom of this and attendees quite likely will be refunded their badges.

Diedrupo I don't think anyone is ever glad that a con was cancelled, I brought this up yesterday and the people who didn't already know were disappointed; fortunately none of us had paid yet.

I mean we kinda knew it was coming (no staff and no money) and some of us were going to Japan Expo instead of this one but hopefully the money that people put into it (artists alley, dealers, badges, etc.) can be recovered. The only consolation here is that it's good that we figured these things out sooner rather than later.

loongy22 I wouldn't assume it's intentional, there might just be no one left to update the site so it just stays like it is, at least through the end of its term with the hosting company after which it will simply disappear.

I'm pretty sure that you just have to pay the annual dns fee to have the website say updated. Since I didn't buy a passport and I sort saw this coming, I've found this experience pretty interesting. I am a bit disappointed, but you can't honestly say that AM2 really went up from the first year. Sure there were a lot more attendees and people had a lot of fun mingling, but the actual con itself sucked, to put it bluntly.